Fast As You Can
by somerdaye
Summary: Harry, Ron and Ginny overhear a conversation that they now wish they never heard. But at least they know why Hermione's run off to Paris with a most unlikely lover. On the other hand, Hermione is quickly learning that she is a total hopeless romantic. HxD


**a/n; ohyey. I'm pretty sure this is my first Dramione fic, but I can't put into words how much I love the pairing.**

**This is a totally different style of writing than what I normally do...this style makes it easier to read, for you guys, but it also reads like a cheesy teen romance. Eurgh. Anyway. It's set after DH - not including the epilouge, duh.**

**Okay, this is obviously AU. Just so ya know.**

**For Kat, because she's slightly deprived of ****teh total Dramione sexayness****.**

**So yes, I hope you enjoy this first chapter! :)**

_**one; Romeo and Juliet**_

_Romeo take me somewhere we can be alone_

_I'll be waiting, all there's left to do is run_

_**xx**_

Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and his sister Ginny were all searching for their best friend, Hermione Granger. The four were staying at Hogwarts to help with the rebuilding of the castle. Hermione had gone to the kitchens around midnight – because she couldn't sleep, and needed cookies and warm milk, or at least that's what she told her friends – but she'd been gone for an hour, and her fellow Gryffindors were getting worried.

After searching nearly the entire castle, Ginny proclaimed that Hermione was likely in the Room of Requirement, and dragged the boys to the seventh floor again.

They began to pace, thinking similar things;

_I need to know where Hermione Granger is..._

_Show me Hermione Granger, Room..._

_Hermione, Hermione, Hermione..._

A door appeared on their third turn past the wall, and they rushed to it. Ron went to wrench the door open, but Ginny stopped him. He looked at her in confusion, but she just shook her head and put a finger to her lips.

Harry and Ron strained their ears, and then they heard it too.

Whispers.

Ginny pulled three Extendable Ears out of her pocket and handed two over to the boys. They hastened to feed the line under the door and listened intently.

"Look, the truth is..." they heard Hermione's voice, clear as day, and listened harder, wondering who the hell she could be talking to this late. "I really can't understand you sometimes, you know that?"

Harry exchanged perplexed looks with his red-haired companions, but his head snapped back to the door so quickly his neck made a cracking noise when he heard a shockingly familiar drawl reply.

"Whatever do you mean?" Draco Malfoy's voice asked, sounding slightly huskier than usual.

"Well...either you totally hate me, or..."

"Or what?" Ginny and Ron clutched the string to their ears hungrily, but Harry could see where the conversation was going, and was wondering how they could all be so blind. Hermione was a better actress than he and Ron gave her credit for.

"Or you're completely in love with me."

Ron gasped so loudly that Harry was worried, for a moment, that the unlikely couple behind the wooden door had heard them. But then –

"Why, Hermione. Can't it be both?" Ginny and Ron exchanged horrified glances.

"Normally, no. But in _our_ case..."

"Yes, in our case, it's justified."

There was a loud silence.

"I was so worried about you these past few months...I..." Hermione's voice broke, and it sounded like she was crying. When she continued to speak, her voice was muffled, as though she was talking into someone's shoulder. "I didn't know what to do with myself...and then, at the Manor, she just kept screaming 'Crucio' and you couldn't do anything, and it hurt so bad...it just broke what's left of my heart. And I've been pretending to love Ron romantically for the past few years, and he truly is one of my best friends, but I don't want to do it anymore!"

Ron was looking like someone had told him Honeydukes was closing forever, to be replaced with some kind of morgue. Ginny was utterly dumbstruck. But Harry continued to marvel at his own obliviousness.

"I love _you_, Draco! Why can't I say that to the world? Why are you so ashamed of me?!"

It seemed to take an eternity for Draco to answer her, and Harry clenched his teeth in anticipation.

"Hermione, look at me. Do you even know how badly I want to scream how much I love you from the tallest tower? And do you remember how isolated we'd be? Your friends would forgive you - eventually - but they wouldn't want to be in my presence or I, theirs. Your parents love me, we both know that, but they're in Australia. _My_ father would kick my to the curb if he knew.

"Our world wants to hear about the fabulous 'Golden Trio'; _not_ the modern-day Romeo and Juliet! Don't look at me like that, of course I've read it. You've quoted it enough times to make me curious, and I saw it on your bookshelf. But back to my original point. Picture, for a second, Hermione, what the look on Weasley's face would be if you told him you didn't love him - the look on Potter's when he finds out you're ditching them for me. That's right, it's painful for you to even think that way. You can't hurt them. That's why we...well, we just can't be together anymore."

"But - Draco! We've been together for nearly five years, and we've made it through everything! Why end it now, when all the trouble is finally over? Why _now_?"

The three eavesdroppers were frozen, waiting on tenterhooks for Draco's reply.

"I..." He hesitated. "He's planning on proposing to you tonight, you know that? Astoria's waiting on me, too. So what then? Hermione, I will not be your 'on the side', and I will not degrade you to the status of a cheating wife! That is cruel."

"Cruel...yes. But aren't we already being cruel? Aren't we leading people on? Feeding them lies about who we are and how we feel? Draco, we are cruel people, that's all there is to it. I understand your reluctance - you would lose everything if we went public. But why don't we just pull a Romeo and Juliet? Let's run away together, Draco! Let's fufill our roles as the reincarnated starcrossed lovers!"

"...Without the suicide?"

Hermione laughed, hiccupping slightly. "Yes, Draco, no suicide. Only the social kind."

Harry closed his eyes, letting out a silent prayer that his best friend would be happy with the ferret. Ginny was too shocked to move a muscle - she hadn't actually blinked for the duration of the intense conversation. Ron, on the other hand, appeared to have given up. He had sunk to the floor and was holding his head in his hand, sobbing quietly. Harry tactfully ignored this.

A few more moments of silence filled their ears - normal and extendable - before Draco responded.

"Bloody effing hell, let's do it. Go pack your stuff, Hermione, and meet me at the Astronomy Tower. If we're doing the whole 'romantic running away together' thing, we're pulling out all the stops."

Harry heard the unmistakable sounds of people getting up from a couch - or a bed, he thought, shuddering from unwanted images - and dragged the two Weasleys under the Invisibility Cloak just as the door opened, revealing the hidden couple.

Draco and Hermione turned to each other and kissed, nothing too intense, but bad enough to make Ron turn a nasty shade of green. It was then that Harry realised Hermione was carrying her jumper, and Draco was doing up the top button of his shirt. Harry felt an urge to either, one, vomit, two, run far, far away, or three, burn his eyes out with gasoline. He felt a miniscule twinge of relief that Ron hadn't noticed. Ginny, however, was watching the two lovebirds with the same expression she'd have if she walked in on Ron wanking - which she'd done before by accident, she had told Harry, shuddering - and seemed torn between the desire to look away and the need to understand.

"Ten minutes, Hermione, and we'll be off," Draco said, pulling away with a smirk. "Any idea where you want to run off to? Literally?"

"Paris, it's romantic. You said we're going all out on the sappy romantic drivel, so, nyah."

"Okay, okay. Just go get packing."

The three invisible figures inched down the corridor, but when the couple turned away from each other, they ran like hell to the Fat Lady before Hermione could get there and discover their absence. They threw themselves into armchairs and Harry stashed the Cloak under him, just as the portrait opened and Hermione tumbled in.

"Where's the fire?" Harry asked with forced casuality, as Hermione bolted up the staircase.

"Um..." She called, making lots of noise as she packed. A minute or so later, she flew back into the common room with a rucksack and a guilty look on her face. "I'm going to Australia to get my parents and lift the charm." She invented wildly, edging toward the portrait hole. Harry gave Ron, who looked like he was about to say something angry or stupid, a warning look.

"That's great!" Ginny really was a great actress, Harry marveled. She smiled naturally at her best girl friend, even while knowing what she was about to do. Hermione sighed in relief and smiled around at them all.

"I'm not sure when I'll be back - I'll write you all!"

"Bye, Hermione!"

"Have fun in Australia!"

She smiled wider, and clambered through the portrait hole, obviously in a hurry.

"See you..." Ron muttered broodingly. Harry and Ginny gave him sympathetic looks. Would he ever get over this shocking new revelation?

**TUNE IN NEXT TIME!**

**Nah, kidding. Couldn't help myself. Sorry. Just...ignore me.**

_**xx**_

Hermione waited anxiously at the top of the Astronomy Tower, waiting for him to join her. He was taking a long time, and that was worrying. She was nearing panic mode when the door was flung open to reveal a panting blond boy.

His hair was mussed from running, and his usually pale cheeks were flushed. In one hand, he carried a rucksack, and in the other, an empty potions bottle.

"I know you...don't like to...fly, so I just..." He held up the bottle, and Hermione figured that it was a Portkey, and marveled at how considerate the cold, aloof Draco Malfoy could be.

She ran and threw her arms around his neck, and he dropped the rucksack to respond properly to her kiss. He lifted her off the ground and spun, throwing his head back in pointless laughter. This was the happiest he'd been for a long time.

Sure, Hermione had been the light of his life for years, but he'd constantly worried - what if his father found out? What if she decided he was too 'Slytherin' for her? - and _now_, now that they were running off to Paris, changing their names and leaving the world behind, he felt light as air. As though he could just jump off the tower and be able to fly. He wasn't quite stupid enough to try out this theory, however.

Hermione laughed with him, feeling carefree and bittersweet.

Draco set her down and pressed both their hands to the bottle. He smiled. Not a smirk, a real _smile_.

"Three, two, one..." And they were gone.

_**xx**_

**a/n; Sorry about the friggin' randomness above (in bold), but as I was writing that sentence, I was reminded of soap operas, and I couldn't NOT put that, and...well, sorry.**

**I hope you enjoyed this, despite the fact that Dramione are already in love, and you will not see them fall into love. However, you will see them try to live in Paris with little money, and Draco attempting to be 'romantic', just for the lulz. So, fun for the whole family!**

**Sorry. I'm in an odd mood. :D**


End file.
